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Music and Discourse

Toward a Semiology of Music
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Music and Discourse by Jean-Jacques Nattiez explores music and the discourse around it as cultural products interpreted through diverse perspectives. The book addresses fundamental questions such as what constitutes a musical work and what defines music itself. Drawing on philosophy, anthropology, music analysis, and history, Nattiez proposes a comprehensive theory for interpreting music, its meanings, and the human behaviours it inspires. The text delves into musical semiology, applying Peircian semiotics to reveal music's infinite and dynamic capacity for meaning. With discussions spanning psychology, non-Western metaphorical language, and aesthetics, the work concludes with an analytical study of the Tristan chord emphasising the narrative frameworks in musical interpretation.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$18900

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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book is ideal for readers interested in music theory, semiotics, cultural studies, and philosophy of music. It suits scholars, students, and informed enthusiasts seeking a deeper understanding of how music conveys meaning across cultures and contexts.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

Examines both music, and discourse about music, as products of human activity that are perceived in varying ways by various cultures. This book proposes a global theory for the interpretation of specific pieces, the phenomenon of music, and the human behaviors that music elicits. It also reviews issues raised by the notion of the musical sign.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

In this book, Jean-Jacques Nattiez, well-known for his pioneering work in musical semiology, examines both music and discourse about music as products of human activity that are perceived in varying ways by various cultures.

Asking such questions as "what is a musical work" and "what constitutes music," Nattiez draws from philosophy, anthropology, music analysis, and history to propose a global theory for the interpretation of specific pieces, the phenomenon of music, and the human behaviours that music elicits.

He reviews issues raised by the notion of the musical sign and shows how Peircian semiotics, with its image of a chain or web of meanings, applies to a consideration of music's infinite and unstable potential for embodying meaning.

In exploring the process of ascribing meaning to music, Nattiez reviews writings on the psychology of music, non-Western metaphorical descriptions, music-analytical prose, and writings in the history of musical aesthetics.

A final analytical chapter on the Tristan chord suggests that interpretations of music are cast in terms of analytical plots shaped by transcendent principles, and that any semiological consideration of music must account for these interpretive narratives.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780691027142

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 21 November 1990

Country: United States

Imprint: Princeton University Press

Contributors:

  • Translated by Carolyn Abbate

Audience: Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Width: 152.0mm

Height: 229.0mm

Weight: 425g

Pages: 288

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